Improvement in rifling-machines



T. POWERS. RIPLING MAGHINB.

No. 37,054. Patented Dec. 2, 1862.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

Tiros POWERS, oF PHILADELPHI@PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN RIFLING-MACHINES.

Specicationrming'part 5f Letters Patent No. 37,054, dated December 2,' 1862. v

To all whom it may concern: l

Be it known that I, TITUs POWERS, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented certain' Improvements in Riding-Machines; andl do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and tothe letters of reference marked thereon.

My inventionconsists of novel mechanism, fully described hereinafter, for imparting to therods of machines for ritling the barrels of firearms, the desired reciprocating motion and intermittent rotating motion.

In order to enable othersskilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will now prof ceed to describe its construction and operation.

On reference to the accompanying drawings, which forms apart of thisl specification,f Figure l is a plan view of my improved ri- Bing-machine; Fig. 2, a part of Fig. l with the moving parts in a diierent position;- Fig. 3, aside View; Fig. 3, a side view; Fig. 4, a detached ,ViewY of part of Fig. 3; and Fig. 5, a' transverse section on the line l 2, Fig. 1,.

Similar letters refer to similar parts through-v out theseveral views.

A is the base or frame of the machine, and near onel end of thehbase are projections'B and B", to which is secured a tube, C, the latter having on inside as many spiral grooves as it is desired to cutvin the barrel 'submitted to the machine.A In the tube C a piston or plunger, D, is arranged to fit snugly, as wellas to turn and slide to and fro freely', the rear en d of this plunger being so connected to a projection., non a reciprocatingframe, E, as to turn therein, but Without being ableto move horizontal]yindependently of thefraine,which is arranged tosl'idevin guides `formed in theA frame or base-plate A. To the extreme rear endof the plunger D is secured a hub, F, from which'radiate as many arms y us there are spiral grooves in the interior of .thetnbe C.V A

bell-crank lever, G, is hung loosely toa pin on the projection B of the frame, the straight arm ofl this lever being arranged to act on one or otber'of the arms y on the hub F during the movement of the lnachine,the bent arm ofthe lever to be acted u pon by a pin, e, on the projection a of the reciprocating frame E, as more fully described hereinafter. A light spring bearing against the straight arm of the lever G tends to restorethe latter tothe position shown in Fig.`lwhen the 'Dent arm is relieved from the pressure of the pine. In this reciprocating frame E is an elongated opening with semicircular ends, vand th roughout the interior of this opening are arranged teeth t', forming an' upper and lower rack, one rack being rendered a continuation of the other by teeth Varranged on the semicircular ends ofthe openings. Into these teeth gear the teeth of a pinion, H, secured to the shaft I, the front end of which -isarranged t0 turn and traverse in a groove, h, formedAin the inside of the plate J,Which is secured to the front of the reciprocating frame E. The groove h, the forni of which will be best observed on reference to Fig. 4, is composed of two lon,- gitudinal recesses, between which a communication iswtoruiedateach end byfsemieirenlar recesses, and these recesses are so arrangenin respect to the teeth ofthe reciprocating frame that the teeth of the pinion H (guided, as the shaft I is, by the recesses or grooves of the plate. J) are always maintained in gear with the said teeth of the frame. For instance, when the end of the shaftlI is turning in and transversing the upper portion of the groove h', the teeth of the pinion are in gear withthe upper teeth in the opening of the frame Eand when the end of theshaft turns in the lower portion of the groove h, the teeth ofthe pinion are in gear with the lower teeth in the opening of the frame. In like manner, when the shaft is traversing the semi-annular communication between the upper and lower portions of the groove h the teeth of the pinion are in gear with the teeth arranged'at one or other ofthe semicircular endsv of the opening of the frame, to which a reciprocating motion must consequently be imparted by the pinion as the l latter revolves. The shaft I passes through a hollow projection, k, at the rear o f the base or- -frame A, and on the end of this projection fgturnsv a pulley, K, infa square opening, in which the squareend m of .the shai'tl fits loosely. The pulleyK thus remainsA as it .re

'volves in the saine vertical plane, whilethe shaft I is permitted to vibrate vertically at the end to which the pinion is secured when the said pinion is in the act of moving from the upper to the lower teeth of the frame E, and vice versa. It will be seen that there'are six projections near the front end of the plunger or piston D, these projections being pointed at the rear end and arranged to t into the six spiral grooves on the inside of the tube C, The riding-rod, which is of the usual 'construction and provided at the outer ,end with the ordinary adjustable riding-tool, is secured to the frontend of the plunger D, the barrel to be operated on being secured to thebase of the machine in such a position that the tool of theriliing-rod acts upon thebarrel throughout the whole length of the bore.

On reference to Fig. 2 it will be observed that the reciprocating frame E has reached or very nearly reached the limit of its forward movement, the cuttingtool of the riding-bar having been consequently projected through the front end of the barrel, and the projectionsw o n the plunger D having passed lfrom the grooves of the tube`0. Prior to the plunger arriving' at this position, however, and as it was inthe act of moving in the direction of the arrow, and the projections w had just and only just escaped from the grooves of the tube C, the pin e of the reciprocating frame E had been brought in contact with the bentarm of the bell-crank lever G, the straight arm of which had been thereby caused to actoh one of the arms y of the hub F, and to turn the vplunger'D round to the extent of one-sixth of a complete revolution, so that' on the movement of theplunger D in the -direction'fcontrary to-that pointed ont by the arrow theprojections :c will not traverse those grooves of the tube along which they hadV previously passed, but each projection will :enter the `groovenext to thatl which itA Ahadpreviously traversed. It will be seen thereforewithout further description, that the tool of therifling-rod having cut one spiral incision in the barrel will, during its next movement, cut another incis-l ion at a distance from the tirst,.and the eutter will thus pass round the interior of the barrel, continuing to cut the spiral groovesat such a distance from each other and withA such a twist or inclination as may be determined by the grooves in the tube C. When six 'spiral incisions have been thus' made in the bore ofthe barrel, the cutter 'has to be so altered as to take a deeper cutduring its next six movements, and this alteration must be;` continued until the grooves have been cut to the desired depth and width. This alteration of the cutter may be eii'ected by a variety of devices common to' other `riding machines,

and so Awell k nown to those familiar therewith that description here has been deemed unnec' essary. j

The device for imparting a reciprocating motion to the frame E and' to the plunger D attached thereto, possesses'featuresiu some respects analogous to what is known in mechanism, as lthe mangle-wheel motion. There is this difference, however, that the teeth of the frame are arranged in the interior of an opening instead of on the exterior of a longitudinal projection on the object to which the reciprocating motion has to be imparted, as in the ordinary mangia-wheel. In the latter case the vertical vibrating movement of the outer end of the driving-shaft must be at least.

-rods, -the main .objection to the rcrank bei-ng the di'erence in speed with which it moves the -rod at 4di'erent points of the stroke of the crank, an evil obviated by improved method of driving the reciprocating frame, the speed of which is uniform throughout.

Instead of making the tube C stationary, I i

propose in some instances to allow it torevo'lve, in which case the'projections a: of the plunger7 witll always traverse the same grooves in the tu e.

`It will be'evident that Aby-securing the hub F to the tube the latter' may be caused to revolve to the extent 'of one-sixth of a revolution by means of the reciprocating frame E .and bell-crank lever G, the result as .regards the movements of the rifling-rod being precisely similar to those described above.

The wel1-known universal joint may Be'used in connection with the pulley K'and shaft L,

so as to allow the latter to vibrate freely without any interruption of its rotating motion. v

I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patenti 1. The combination of the vibrating pinionshaft I and pinion H with the reciprocating frame E and plu-nger D, all constructed and arranged substantially as set forth.

2. vCausing the reciprocating frame or any devices :connected therewith to impart an in termittent motion to the plungerDor tube C,

through the intervention of a bell-crank lever,

G, and hub F ywith arms y, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name 5to this speciicationiin thepresence of two subs scrihing witnesses.

' TITUS POWERS.

Witnesses: l

HENRY Howson, 'Qiriliznnsv HowsoN. 

